Cruz attacks Rubio on Planned Parenthood

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Ted Cruz unleashed a blistering attack on Marco Rubio's record on Planned Parenthood in front of hundreds of conservative voters at the Faith and Family Presidential Forum on Friday, insisting that his Senate colleague did not stand with him last fall as he sought to strip funding for the women's health care organization in a spending bill.

There is little daylight between Cruz and Rubio regarding their disdain for Planned Parenthood. But Cruz is seeking to cast Rubio as weak-kneed and unwilling to stand behind the Texas senator's 2015 strategy to defund the women's health organization.

The Texas senator alleged Rubio did not want to use Congress's "constitutional authority to defund Planned Parenthood," a charge that overlooked Rubio's support for tying an attack on the group with government funding.

"That's a mistake. So he and I disagree on that," Cruz said here at Bob Jones University, a Protestant university. "We could have defunded Planned Parenthood in the wake of those videos but too many Republicans in Washington, especially leadership, were afraid to stand and fight."

Cruz has cast himself as the one remaining presidential candidate that has been willing to thwart the GOP's Washington leadership, and his attack is a serious charge in South Carolina considering the evangelical GOP voting base here. The National Right to Life, one of the chief arbiters of social issues in GOP politics, quickly stepped in to back Rubio and called Cruz's Friday remarks "inaccurate and misleading."

"Marco Rubio voted to defund Planned Parenthood before Ted Cruz ever got to the U.S. Senate. Since Ted Cruz joined the U.S. Senate, both he and Sen. Rubio have voted the same on every roll call that National Right to Life regards as pertinent to defunding Planned Parenthood," said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

Cruz delivered the blow to Rubio at the tail end of an hour-long discussion with South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, but it was perhaps his most savage attack on Rubio's record on social issues yet. While Cruz has suggested repeatedly in South Carolina that Rubio is flimsy on gay marriage, Cruz is now suggesting that Rubio is weak on an organization reviled by the GOP base.

"Marco Rubio has spoken out about Planned Parenthood. But when these videos came out I stood with millions of Americans calling on Republican leadership to use the power of Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and to cut off the money. And Marco stood up and said: 'No, we shouldn't," Cruz said.

Rubio's campaign said Cruz was fabricating.

"Ted Cruz is willing to do or say anything to get elected -- now he's just making things up," Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said when asked about Cruz's remarks.

In September Rubio did not urgently endorse Cruz's full-throated effort to press a strategy that could have again shut down the government, but Rubio did support a spending bill that defunded Planned Parenthood in September. In August, both Cruz and Rubio supported a standalone bill to defund Planned Parenthood, but Cruz demanded a sharper tactic that no spending bill pass that contains funding for Planned Parenthood.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ignored Cruz, seeking to avoid a replay of the 2013 shutdown, which was stoked by Cruz's attempt to defund Obamacare in a spending bill. The National Right to Life also opposed Cruz's strategy.

Cruz's effort failed and leaders moved to a so-called "clean" funding bill; Cruz voted against that bill while Rubio missed those votes. Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Cruz, indicated on Twitter that Cruz's latest remarks were rooted in Rubio skipping those votes that continued Planned Parenthood funding in that funding bill.

Both Cruz and Rubio oppose exceptions for abortions in cases of rape and incest, and a Planned Parenthood official said in January that "Marco Rubio’s American dream is a woman’s worst nightmare."